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Kepler-6 is a G-type star situated in the constellation Cygnus. The star lies within the field of view of the Kepler Mission, which discovered it as part of a NASA-led mission to discover Earth-like planets. The star, which is slightly larger, more metal-rich, slightly cooler, and more massive than the Sun, is orbited by at least one extrasolar planet, a Jupiter-sized planet named Kepler-6b that orbits closely to its star.
Kepler-6 has one confirmed extrasolar planet; it is a gas giant named Kepler-6b. The planet is approximately .669 MJ, or some two-thirds the mass of planet Jupiter. It is also slightly more diffuse than Jupiter, with a radius of approximately 1.323 RJ. Kepler-6b orbits at an average distance of .0456 AU from its star, and completes an orbit every 3.234 days. The eccentricity of the planet's orbit is assumed to be 0, which is that of a circular orbit.
Nomenclature and history
Kepler-6 was named for the Kepler Mission, a NASA project launched in 2009 that aims to discover Earth-like planets that transit, or cross in front of, their home stars with respect to Earth. Unlike stars like the Sun or Sirius, Kepler-6 does not have a common and colloquial name. The discovery of Kepler-6b was announced by the Kepler team on January 4, 2010 at the 215th meeting of theAmerican Astronomical Society
The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...
along with planets around Kepler-4, Kepler-5, Kepler-7, and Kepler-8
Kepler-8 is a star located in the constellation Lyra in the field of view of the Kepler Mission, a NASA-led operation tasked with discovering terrestrial planets. The star, which is slightly hotter, larger, and more massive than the Sun, ...
. It was the third planet to be discovered by the Kepler spacecraft; the first three planets to be verified by data from Kepler had been previously discovered. These three planets were used to test the accuracy of Kepler's measurements.
The discovery of Kepler-6 was confirmed by follow-up observations made using the Hobby–Eberly and Smith telescopes in Texas; the Keck 1 telescope in Hawaii; the Hale and Shane telescopes in southern California; the WIYN, MMT, and Tillinghast Tillinghast may refer to:
* Tillinghast (surname), an English surname
* Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston (1867–1938), American businessman, owner of New York Yankees, circa 1915
* Tillinghast Mill Site, a Registered Historic Place in Rhode Island, ...
telescopes in Arizona; and the Nordic Optical Telescope
The Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) is an astronomical telescope located at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma in the Canary Islands. The telescope saw first light in 1988, and was officially inaugurated during September 1989. Regular o ...
in the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
.
Characteristics
Kepler-6 is a star that is approximately 1.209 Msun, or some five-fourths the mass of the Sun. It is also wider than the sun, with a radius of 1.391 Rsun, or seven-fifths of that of the Sun. The star is approximately 3.8 billion years old, and has aneffective temperature
The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation. Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body's surface temperature ...
of 5647 K (9,705 °F
The Fahrenheit scale () is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accounts of how he originally defined his ...
). In comparison, the Sun has a slightly warmer temperature of 5778 K. Kepler-6 has a metallicity
In astronomy, metallicity is the abundance of elements present in an object that are heavier than hydrogen and helium. Most of the normal physical matter in the Universe is either hydrogen or helium, and astronomers use the word ''"metals"'' as a ...
of e/H= +0.34, making it 2.2 times more metallic than the Sun. On average, metal-rich stars tend to be more likely to have planets and planetary systems.
The star, as seen from Earth, has an apparent magnitude of 13.8. It is not visible with the naked eye. In comparison, Pluto's apparent magnitude at its brightest is slightly brighter, at 13.65.
Planetary system
Kepler-6 has one confirmed extrasolar planet; it is a gas giant named Kepler-6b. The planet is approximately .669 MJ, or some two-thirds the mass of planet Jupiter. It is also slightly more diffuse than Jupiter, with a radius of approximately 1.323 RJ. Kepler-6b orbits at an average distance of .0456 AU from its star, and completes an orbit every 3.234 days. The eccentricity of the planet's orbit is assumed to be 0, which is that of a circular orbit.
See also
*List of extrasolar planets
These are lists of exoplanets. Most of these were discovered by the Kepler space telescope. There are an additional 2,054 potential exoplanets from Kepler's first mission yet to be confirmed, as well as 978 from its " Second Light" mission and ...
* Kepler Mission
References
{{Stars of Cygnus Planetary systems with one confirmed planet Cygnus (constellation) 17 Planetary transit variables